1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to drum tuning systems, and more particularly to a drum tuning and tuning stabilization mechanism that uses an element to engage a drum hoop to provide a force opposing the force provided by a tensioning lug screw to pinch and secure the hoop and thereby prevent the drum head from loosening during play.
2. Background Art
Drums included in typical popular music drum kits are generally uniform structurally. The kits themselves generally include, at a minimum, a bass drum, a floor torn, bass drum mounted toms, a side snare drum, a crash symbol, and a high hat. Much more elaborate systems are common, though generally including this base set. Each of the drum elements have a standard structure, which includes a cylindrical drum shell or body covered at each of its open ends with a tightly stretched drum head.
Collectively, the body and drum heads create a resonant cavity that vibrates dramatically with each strike of a drum stick on a drum head. The drum heads are typically round and have a diameter that exceeds that of the openings on the drum body, such that the outer portion of the head can be folded over the sides of the body. The heads are held on the ends and pulled tight by drum hoops that comprise an annular channel placed over the rim of the body and having an outwardly extending flange through which a plurality of evenly spaced apart holes are disposed.
The hoop is bolted to the drum body by lug bolts inserted through the holes in the hoop. The lug bolts include an underside disposed over the outer surface of the hoop and ends that are threadably inserted into lug casings having a nut incorporated and secured therein. Tightening the lug bolt pulls the hoop channel downward onto the drum body. Thus, the lug bolts provide a way to adjust the tension on the hoop, and thereby to adjust the tension of the drum head.
As a drum head is repeatedly struck with drumsticks, either in the center of the head or near the periphery, and especially during rimshots, where the rim and the head of a drum are struck at once to produce accented notes, the hoop depresses slightly and provides a very small clearance from the underside of the proximate lug bolt heads. The allows the lug nuts to loosen in extremely small increments, such that during play, the drum will slowly go out of tune.
It is impractical and disruptive to tune a drum head repeatedly during performances. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide means to prevent the lug bolts from loosening and thereby to keep a drum head in tune. Mechanisms of this kind have been proposed, examples of which are set out as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,199 to Shah, discloses a quick release lug system for drums. The mechanism enables quick removal of a drumhead and eliminates the need to unscrew multiple tuning rods. It does so by providing a cam lever that can be pulled down to lock the hoop on the drum body and tighten the drum head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,412 to Hoshino teaches a mechanism for holding a drum head on a drum body by a drum hoop passing around the edge of the drum head. A lug on the side of the drum body has an axial opening which receives a lug nut. The lug nut has an axial threaded opening. A threaded bolt, which engages the drum head hoop, is tightened into the threaded opening of the lug nut and draws the drum hoop to tighten the drum head. A radial opening extends radially through the lug nut from the opening in the lug to the threaded opening for the bolt. An elastic bolt engaging and bolt rotation resisting chip in the radial opening engages the lug on the outside and the bolt in the lug nut opening for restraining rotation of the bolt. There may be a drum head at each end of the drum body, a respective lug near each drum head and a single element defining both lug nuts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,566 to Yanagisawa describes a pair of tension bolts that apply tension to a pair of drum heads screwed into nuts that are held by a pair of lug bodies fixed to a drum shell. The lug bodies are connected to one another by a connecting member with opposite ends fitted individually in openings at the respective end portions of the lug bodies. A hole is formed in each end portion of the connecting member. The lug bodies and the connecting member are connected so that projections on the lug bodies are fitted individually in the holes of the connecting member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,586 to Brewer discloses a quick release drum head restraint including a pendulum and a toggle that enable a user to quickly remove and replace a drum head without significantly altering the tuning of the drum head.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,680 to Benton, Jr., teaches a drum tuning plates that distribute the drawing force exerted on the drumhead by the tensioning lugs. The tuning plates have a circumferential dimension substantially greater than the radial dimension and the thickness dimension and have an arcuate inner surface conforming to the radial contour of the drum hoop and an outer surface substantially parallel to the inner surface. Each tuning plate has an opening that enables it to be positioned between the head portion of one of the tensioning lugs and the drum hoop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,463 to Bartlett shows a drum tuning mechanism having a pair of membrane mounting and tuning assemblies, one for each end of the shell. Each tuning assembly includes a lug casings that include a worm gear for turning and tightening tuning lugs disposed through the drum head hoop.
The foregoing patents reflect the current state of the art of which the present inventor is aware. Countless other drum tuning mechanisms are known to exist, though the foregoing are exemplary and representative of contemporary systems adapted for use with currently used acoustic drums. Reference to, and discussion of, these patents is intended to aid in discharging Applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be relevant to the examination of claims to the present invention. However, it is respectfully submitted that none of the above-indicated patents disclose, teach, suggest, show, or otherwise render obvious, either singly or when considered in combination, the invention described herein. Specifically, none of the foregoing patents teaches an apparatus for unifying the drum component parts so as to improve energy transfer from drumstick impact to the drum resonant chamber, nor do they show any means of preventing changes in tuning that occur during play as a result of the repeated changes in pressure on the drum hoop and hoop rim that vibrate and loosen the adjustment lug screws. There remains a need for such an apparatus.